A recent publication, “The Sound of Silence,” details a 50 percent decline of enrollment in public school music classes over the last five years in California schools due to state budget cuts, high-stakes testing, and the implementation of No Child Left Behind. This is a decrease of more than one-half million students. A similar situation arose after the passage of Prop. 13 in 1978, which resulted in Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District eliminating its districtwide elementary general/vocal music program.
However, thanks to the leadership of Superintendent John Deasy and the support of the SMMUSD Board of Education, the number of grade 4-12 music students in our local schools has actually grown over the last five years. This year, the school board adopted a long-range “Arts for All” plan for PreK-12 that will eventually provide all district students with access to comprehensive, sequential, standards-based arts instruction. As part of that plan, we will see a return of the elementary general/vocal music program, and once again all K-5 students in SMMUSD will be singing, taught by credentialed music teachers. That is the “sound” I long to hear.
Zina Josephs